Packaging machine



June 1969 J. M. MASS EY ETAL 3,451,187

PACKAGING MACHINE Sheet of5 Filed Sept. 27, 1966 June 24, 1969 J. M.MASSEY ETAL 3,451,187

PACKAG ING MACHINE Filed Sept. 27, 1966 Sheet 2 of 5 June 24, 19.69 J.M. MASSEY ETAI 3,451,187

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Sept.

A/rmarayrs June 24, 1969 J. M.MA$SEY ETAL ,1 7

PACKAGING MACHINE Sheet Filed Sept. 27, 1966 AM, M,Mq

Jun24, 1969 J. M. MASSEY ETAL 3,451,187

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 27'. 1966 Sheet 5 of 5- (awes 7// W/amjeyUnited States Patent 3,451,187 PACKAGING MACHINE James M. Massey,Appleton, and Robert C. Pitts, Sn, Neenah, Wis., assignors to MedalistIndustries, Inc., Oshkosh, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Sept.27, 1966, Ser. No. 582,388

Int. Cl. 1365b 43/06, 51/26, 61/06 U.S. Cl. 53-49 8 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to packaging and more particularlyto an improved process and apparatus to produce and fill flexible filmpackages. In the art these packages are sometimes referred to as fourside seal packages. They are desirably formed and filled in multiplelanes, to increase production.

According to the present invention a plurality of packages are formed,filled and sealed and sliced from a continuous sheet of thermosealablepackage film. Two film plies in face relation are formed into transverserows of pouches which are filled with the desired product and sealed.The product can be liquid or granular. The pouches are subsequentlysealed and the packages thus formed are sliced along their longitudinalseams to create longitudinally extending package strings. The individualpackages are then severed from the strings by cutting through thetransverse seams.

The present invention relates broadly to the improvement in which themultiple lanes or strings of packages remain laterally connected untilafter the pouches are filled and sealed. Even after the lanes areseparated by slicing through the longitudinal seams the strings ofpackages are kept laterally together as an integrated unit or array by afilm brake which holds the package strings against the up-thrust of thelongitudinal severing knives.

In this connection, the invention features slicing of the longitudinalseams on the upstroke of the longitudinal severing knives, while thebrake jaws are clamped therebelow to hold the strings together.

Prior art packaging machines typically slice a continuous package filminto longitudinal strings prior to the film reaching both the productfilling station and the heat seal jaws. During the longitudinal slicingoperation the film is moving and the cutters are stationary.

The conventional machines have encountered various problems in thetracking of the longitudinal strings to the filling station and the heatseal unit. One of the difiiculties experienced is aligning the front andrear film panels to get uniform edges with no overlap. When a laminatedfilm with an inner foil such as aluminum is used the outer paper orplastic covering of the front panel does not cover and hide the inneredges of aluminum foil of the rear panel resulting in a package with anundesirable appearance which may not meet customer specifications.

Patented June 24, 1969 A further difiiculty is experienced when packagematerial having a polyethylene covering is used. The polyethylene tendsto adhere to and build up on the heat seal jaws. When the film is slitlongitudinally into strings prior to reaching the heat seal jaws thepolyethylene accumulation tends to reseal the strings and accordinglyinterferes with subsequent separation of the rows into individualpackages.

The packaging machine of the present invention eliminates these problemsby longitudinally slicing the packages into strings subsequent to thepackage forming and filling operation and desirably on the upstroke ofthe slicing knives while the strings are held in lateral array by thefilm string brake.

The machine is desirably operated on a cycle comprising an upstroke anddownstroke of a vertically reciprocating heat seal jaw assembly. At thedwell at the top of the upstroke the heat seal bars which compriseopposed jaws clamp on the opposed plies of package film and seal thefilm to form a row of multiple pouches with the upper edge of each pouchopen and surrounding the outlet of a separate filler tube. During thistop dwell the pouches are filled with the desired product. While thefilm remains grasped in the closed heat seal jaws, the heat seal jawassembly proceeds on the downstroke and advances the film one packagelength. At the bottom dwell at the end of the downstroke a transverse orhorizontal slicer severs the bottom or lower horizontal row of multiplepackages from the package film.

The longitudinal seams between the multiple lanes are severed during theupstroke of the assembly. To hold the filled packages against thepressure of the upwardly moving slitting knives and to keep the stringsin close lateral array, brake jaws engage the packages during the bottomdwell.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following disclosure in which:-

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a packaging machineembodying various of the features of the present invention and adaptedto practice the process of this invention, certain parts being brokenaway and others shown in section.

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the packaging machine.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the side of the machine oppositethat shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatic side views of a packaging machineembodying the present invention and showing the operational sequence.

FIGURE 8 is a cross section taken along line 88 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 9 is a cross section taken along line 99 of FIGURE 10.

FIGURE 10 is a cross section taken along line 10-10 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 11 is a perspective diagrammatic view of the film flow andprocess steps.

Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable thoseskilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodimentsherein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied inother specific structure. The scope of the invention is defined in theclaims appended hereto.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a packaging machine orapparatus generally designated 12 of the type used to produce and lfilla plurality of small four side heat sealed packages 30 from a continuousroll 22 of thermosealable film in accordance with the process of thepresent invention. Description of the packaging machine '12 is alsoillustrative of one mode of carrying out the process of the presentinvention.

The packaging machine 12 includes a frame generally designated 13, whichsupports the machine components. Supported on the frame 13 are a packagefiller unit 29; a plurality of package filler tubes 18; a packageforming heat seal unit 14 incorporating vertical or longitudinal heatsealing bars 15, and horizontal or transverse heat sealing bars 16; afilm brake 20; and a horizontal or transverse package cutter 17.

In accordance with the present invention the machine is provided with avertical or longitudinal string cutter or slicer 19 which depends fromthe heat seal unit 14 and moves therewith. This slicer 19 cooperates innovel fashion with the film brake 20 which holds the package stringsduring the longitudinal slicing operation.

As best shown in FIGURES 2 and 11 a continuous supply of film 21 iscarried on the machine frame 13 on a supply roll 22. The film may besupplied either in two separate rolls or in one roll with the front andback panels of the packages printed in adjacent lanes. Any conventionalpackaging material can be used that is thermosealable. The film or webrolls can be provided with registration marks for photoelectric scanneractuation of the machine. The film 21 travels around a dancer roll 23(FIG- URE 3) to an idler roll 24. When one sheet of film containing thefront and back panels is used as illustrated herein an inclined cutter25 slits the film 21 into separate plies or panels 26 and 27. Respectivepanels 26 and 27 are guided over respective 45 degree angle dividerwings 28 and over parallel idlers 31 and 312 and then travel verticallyand downwardly. Brushes 33 direct each panel inwardly between theopposed jaws of the heat seal unit 14 against the intervening fillertubes 18.

In this location the film panels 26 and 27 are in face relation and arethreaded between the coacting jaws or bars of the heat seal unit 14.

The heat seal bars 15 and 16 are heated electrically either continuouslyor intermittently and can be thermostatically controlled. Each set ofheat seal bars 15 and .16 can be adjustably positioned to producepackages of the desired length and width.

As best shown in FIGURE 8 the longitudinal heat seal bars 15 andhorizontal heat seal bars 16 are mounted on opposed cross head rails 41and 42. The cross head rails 41 and 42 reciprocate upon guide pins 43and 44 which are mounted on support bracket 45. The support bracket 45has two positive stop shoulders 46 against which the cross head rails 41and 42 abut when the heat seal bars come together. The shoulders 46accurately align the bite of the bars and the path of the package film.A double acting fluid operated motor 48 has its cylinder connected to across head 50 which has its ends connected to cross head rail 41 bystems 51. Piston rod 49 is threaded into cross head rail 42. Actuationof the fluid motor 48 will bring the cross head rails 41 and 42 togetherand accordingly the heat seal bars 15 and 16 will engage the film insealing contact.

When actuated, the opposed bars 15 of each set come together as jaws andclamp on the film providing a plurality of longitudinal spaced apartheat seal bands or seams 37 best shown in FIGURE 11 with the bandsseparating the film into a plurality of vertical strings or lanes 38. Inthe disclosed construction the longitudinal heat sealers provide fivebands 37 and separate the film into four longitudinal strings 38.

The horizontal heat sealing bars 16 are actuated concurrently with thelongitudinal heat sealing bars 15 by fluid motor 48 and come together toform a single horizontal or transverse heat seal band or seam 39. Thetransverse heat seal band 39 when servered as hereinafter described inthe approximate center of the band provides the top seal for the packagerow 40 immediately beneath the bars 16 and the bottom seal for thehorizontal package row 47 immediately above the bars 16. Thelongitudinal side seal 37 and transverse seal bands 39 form a row ofgenerally U-shaped pouches 97 with the top of each pouch 97 open. Thewalls of a pouch 97 enclose or surround the outlet 52 of a filler tube18.

The filler unit 29 may be any conventional product filler. In thedisclosed machine embodiment the filler unit 29 comprises a hopper 53mounted above a rotating drum 54. The hopper contains the bulk materialwhich may be a powder or fluid to be deposited in the pouches. Drum 54has diametrically opposite ports 55 aligned with the filling tubes andhopper discharge ports at the same time. With each cycle of the machinethe drum rotates 180 degrees bringing a set of filled ports containing ameasured portion directly over the filling tubes. The filler material isdischarged from the ports into the filling tubes 18 and through thetubes into the pouches.

The row of filled pouches 97 is cut into vertical strings 38 by thelongitudinal slicer 19 which is mounted on means including bracket 56'which depends from the support bracket 45 that holds the heat seal jawunit 14. A plurality of laterally spaced apart cutting blade holders 58are mounted on the bracket 56. In the disclosed construction threecutter holders 58 are mounted on bracket 56, although more can be usedif the machine 12 is arranged to form more than four vertical strings orlanes of packages simultaneously. The cutter holders 58 are positionedbeneath the heat seal unit 14 and hold three cutting blades 61 such asrazor blades, in an inclined position intercepting the package film.Support bracket 45 is secured to paired sleeves 62 which are verticallyreciprocal about paired guide rods 64. Reciprocation of the supportbracket 45 and the heat seal unit 14 and longitudinal cutter carriedthereon is effected by an electric motor 70 (FIGURE 1) which drives acam 71 having a slotted cam follower 72 which reciprocates vertical rod74 which causes reciprocal vertical movement of bracket 45 and the crosshead 50 along the guide rods 64.

The final package cutoff knife or transverse slicer which slices theupper horizontal or transverse heat seal band 39 of the bottommost row63 of packages as shown in FIGURE 11 comprises an anvil blade 75 and ashear blade 76. The anvil blade 75 is mounted to a bracket which isvertically movable about guide rods 64. The shearing blade 76 is mountedon a movable rail 81 which is guided by guide pins 82. A double actingfluid motor 83 mounted on bracket 80 has a piston rod 84 connected tothe movable rail 81.

The film brake or clamp 20 has a movable jaw 85 and a fixed jaw 86. Themovable jaw 85 comprises a longitudinal bumper strip 87 preferably witha rubber face which is mounted by two studs 91, to two upstandingbrackets 92 and 93 which are secured to the movable rail 81. The fixedjaw comprises a longitudinal strip 94 mounted on an upstanding bracket95 which is secured to the fixed cross head 80. When the movable rail isactuated by the motor 83 the opposed brake jaws come together and clampon the film.

Bracket 80 is vertically movable along guide rods 64. Means to adjustthe vertical position of the transverse slicer 17 and brake 20 areprovided by two threaded rods which are threaded into two internallythreaded sleeves 101 integral with the bracket 80. A hand crank 102 on ahorizontal shaft 103 turns the threaded rods by means of two sets ofbevel gears 104. The adjustment means afforded by this arrangementpermits vertical positioning of the transverse slicer to sever the lowerpackage row 63 in the center of the horizontal heat seal band 39.

In operation of the packaging machine of the present invention, thesteps of forming, filling and slicing are performed during a cyclecomprising an upstroke and downstroke of the reciprocating heat sealingassembly 14. The film 21 is guided to the heat sealing unit 14 which isin a dwell position prior to its being pulled down on the downstroke.The position of the heat seal unit 14 is illustrated in FIGURE 4 withthe heat sealing jaws and 16 open. Also illustrated in FIGURE 4 is theposition of the cam follower 72 which is connected to the heat sealassembly by a vertical rod 74.

The pouches 97 are formed as illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 11 bysimultaneously closing the heat seal jaws 15 and 16 to create aplurality of vertical heat seal bands 37 best shown in FIGURE 11 to formthe sides of the pouches and form one transverse heat seal band 39across the Width of the film which forms the bottom of each pouch in thehorizontal rows 47. The fluid motor 48 that closes the heat seal bars 15and 16 can be actuated by cam operated 'switches or any other suitablearrangement. When the cam operated switches are closed they operate asolenoid which pressurizes the fluid motor 48. After the pouches 97 areformed they are filled by actuation of the filter unit which includesrotation of the drum 54 and discharge of the product into the tubes 18which carry the product into'the pouches 97.

FIGURE 6 illustrates the reciprocating jaw unit 14 at the bottom of itsdownstroke. At this position of the reciprocating jaw unit 14, fluidmotor 83 is actuated in timed sequence with the reciprocation of theheat seal unit 14 to close the film brake and transverse cutter 17. Theshear blade 76 of the transverse cutter 17 closes against the anvilblade 75 and shears off a horizontal row of packages 63 by slicing atransverse heat seal band 39 in the approximate center. The movable jaw85 of the film brake is also closed against the fixed jaw 86 and clampsthe strings of packages 30 that were filled and. sealed in a priorcycle. The fluid motor 83 can be actuated by a solenoid operated by acam operated limit switch. The cam 71 is shown in the appropriateposition at the bottom of the downstroke.

FIGURE 7 shows the reciprocating jaw unit 14 at the top of the upstroke.During the upstroke film brake 20 remains closed on the film. The heatsealing jaws 15 and 16 open and the jaw assembly 14 proceeds on theupstroke ascent. The longitudinal cutting blades 61 of slicer 19 slicethe vertical heat seal bands 37 separating the sealed packages intostrings 110 as best illustrated in FIGURE 11 as the jaw assembly andcutters 61 ascend. The brake 20 holds the bottom ends of the strings110. Accordingly, the strings 110 are held in close lateral array duringthe slicing operation for good control over alignment and registrationof the heat seal bands 37 with the respective cutters 61.

When the slicing operation is completed and the jaw unit 14 has reachedthe top of its upstroke, the film brake 20 opens by actuation of thefluid motor 83 and releases the film. The machine is then ready for anew cycle commencing as shown in FIGURE 4. When the transverse heatsealing jaws 16 come together at the dwell at the top of the upstrokethe pouches 97 that were filled in the prior cycle are then sealed alongtheir top edge with the same heat seal band 39 that forms the bottom ofthe row of pouches to be filled during this cycle. The filled pouchesare then severed from the package film when they reach the transverseslicer in a subsequent cycle.

Various features of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing claims.

We claim:

1. A package forming and filling machine having a verticallyreciprocating heat seal unit adapted to form package pouches in multiplelanes in facing plies in a heat scalable film and to draw said filmdownwardly as successive package pouches are formed and filled, and alongitudinal slicer to slice through seams between said lanes toseparate the film into package strings, the improvement to hold saidstrings in close lateral array after the film is sliced longitudinallyand comprising means mounting said slicer below said heat seal unit andfor movement therewith, a film brake below said heat seal unit andslicer, and means for actuating the film brake in timed sequence withthe reciprocation of the heat seal unit to clamp on the film when theslicer is at the bottom of its stroke and hold the film while the slicermoves upwardly to slice the film into strings on its upstroke, and torelease the film on the downstroke of the heat seal unit to allow thefilm to feed past the film brake on said downstroke.

2. The machine of claim 1 in combination with a transverse cutter belowthe film brake and means to actuate said cutter while the film brake isclamped on the film, thus to sever the bottommost transverse row offilled packages from said strings.

3. The machine of claim 1 in which said heat seal unit has longitudinaland transverse heat seal bars which form U-shaped pouches in the filmplies before the film is sliced into package strings.

4. The machine of claim 3 in which said bars are supported on the meansmounting said slicer, said slicer having knives vertically aligned withthe longitudinal bars of the heat seal unit to slice through seamsformed in the film by said bars.

5. A packaging machine for forming and filling multiple four side sealedpackages from a continuous supply of two plies of film by heat sealingsaid plies to form successive rows of top opening pouches, said machineforming said pouches between a series of longitudinal and transversespaced apart heat seal bands formed by heat seal jaws mounted on asupport reciprocating vertically in an upstroke and downstroke, saidmachine having a product filler to fill the pouches, the improvement forlongitudinal slicing of the film into individual strings comprising abracket secured to said support and depending therefrom, cutting bladesmounted on said bracket in alignment with said longitudinal heat sealbands and effective during the ascent of the support to separate thefilm into strings, and means for securing the film during the upstrokeof said support to hold the strings in lateral array during action ofthe cutting blades thereon.

6. A packing machine in accordance with claim 5 wherein said means forsecuring the film during the upstroke comprises relatively movable jawsand means to close said movable jaws on said package film during theascent of said heat sealing jaw assembly and release said jaws at thetop of the upstroke.

7. A process for forming, filling, sealing and slicing a plurality offour side seal packages of a selected predetermined length and widthfrom a continuous sheet of package forming thermosealable film,comprising the steps of:

(a) forming opposed plies of package film;

(b) tracking said plies into face relation;

(c) heat sealing said plies to form a row of open top pouches bounded bylongitudinal and transverse heat seal bands closing the sides and bottomof said pouches;

(d) filling said pouches with the desired product through the open topsthereof;

(e) advancing the film one package length;

(f) heat sealing the upper edge of the package row by a transverse heatseal band;

(g) longitudinally slicing the side heat seal bands in a directionopposite said advance to form package strings;

(h) severing the individual packages from the film by slicing thetransverse heat seal bands at the top of each package in the row.

8. A process in accordance with claim 7 plus the step of holding thefilm against retraction while slicing the film into strings.

References Cited 8/ 1966 France.

US. Cl. X.R.

